The Fool

Chapter Forty-Three

"Alaric, please, I need to see him. You don't understand!" Aurora cried, pulling at Alarics' arm that was trying to walk away from her towarss the stairs.

"Aurora, Levi won't let you leave. Bringing you to see him is too risky." Alaric said sternly. He wanted nothing more than to bring her to see him, but he simply couldn't. Aurora ran after him down the stairs.

"You're not listening to me!" She yelled helplessly, tears streaming down her face. Alaric pasued and whipped around in the middle of the stairs to look up at her.

"I am, Aurora, but it's not safe!" He yelled back, growing frustrated by the whole thing. Auroras face fell as her body shook with sobs. Alarics heart broke at the sight, having to look away from her.

"I think I love him," She admitted in a barely audible whisper. Alaric tuned back instantly to look at her, seeing her expression full of desperation.

"I know you do," He said quietly.

"Then you know why I need to help him," She hiccuped as she descended the stairs so she was on the stop right above him.

"I don't care what Levi says or what happens. I only feel safe when I'm with him, " She pleaded, grabbing Alarics' hand. Alaric stared at her. Alaric knew she loved him. Even in the short period of time she knew him, she fell harder than he ever would have expected. He had never seen her so full of life, life that neither he nor he nor her brothers could give her.

"Fine," He replied stiffly. He didn't give her time to process before he was pulling her gently down the stairs. Aurora hurried her steps to keep up with them but suddenly halted behind his back as Alaric came to a sudden stop at the bottom of the stairs. She went to step around him to ask what was wrong, but he suddenly pushed her back. She noticed his eyes focused on something ahead of them, not straying once.

"Aurora, go back upstairs," He said lowly.

"What? No! You said-"

"Aurora, go back upstairs right now and lock the door to your bedroom and hide," Alaric replied in a clipped tone, leaving no room for argument. Aurora suddenly felt a sense of panic wash over her. She didn't know what was going on, but she obeyed immediately, running back up the stairs to her bedroom and doing exactly what she was told. Once Alaric heard her bedroom door lock, he took the gun from his waist band and walked towards the thing he had been staring at on the front door. As he got closer, he studied the familiar back tarot card pinned to the middle of the door with one of their own family daggers.

They were in the house.

~*~

The door shut with a bang as Levi stepped into the room, the sound echoing off the cold concrete walls that caused Synn to tense up. He knew it wasn't Alaric.

"Synn Reeds," Levi sneered, stepping further into the room. Synn finally looked up at him. He could see pure hatred shining in his eyes, directed at him, not that he was unfamiliar with it. "I must give credit where credits due, you had me fooled there for a while, piccolo coglione, but how long did you plan to keep it going for? Hmm?" Synn didn't reply to him. He simply tilted his head to the side. Levi grew angry at his silence. He wanted him to retaliate, to get angry back. He clenched his jaw and glanced away for a moment before looking back at him.

"Did you have fun playing with the Mafia Princess?"

"Don't bring her into this," Synn sneered. Levi was slightly taken back with the hostility in his tone, but he composed himself quickly.

"You fucking brainwashed her. You knew exactly how to get in, didn't you? Fuck with her head enough to gain her trust so she could convince me" Levi taunted stepping closer to him. Synn grinded his teeth together as he glared at him. He didn't like how he was talking about Aurora. Like she was a pawn. Like she wasn't his sister.